Last minute themed family costumes

Have the baby/ toddler be a lobster and everyone else wear "Red Lobster" bibs.

Have baby/toddler be a sack of money and everyone else wear all black as robbers.

Have a family member be a "crazy cat lady" and everyone else be cats

Winnie-the-pooh characters

What family themed costumes have you done?

Cooking with Man-cub D

Ever since I showed him how to cook eggs, Man-cub D has requested them every day for lunch. The following are 25 steps to a quick cooking session with a toddler.

Step 1: Pull out the eggs from the fridge.
Step 2: Pull a chair over to the counter so D can reach.
Step 3: Grab a small skillet and put on stove.
Step 4: Spray the skillet (unless D jumps right to step 5)
Step 5: D cracks the egg(s) into the skillet.
Step 6: Mama R digs out all the shell bits.
Step 7: Wash hands.
Step 8: Push eggs out of D's reach so he doesn't crack more.
Step 9: Hand D the pepper to season the eggs.
Step 10: D vigorously shakes pepper over eggs, possibly dropping it into the mix.
Step 11: Hand D the salt.
Step 12: Repeat step 10.
Step 13: Put salt and pepper out of D's reach.
Step 14: Open grated cheese for D.
Step 15: D sprinkles cheese on eggs, also spilling some on the chair.
Step 16: Clean the chair.
Step 17: Get wooden spoon for D to stir the eggs (thus scrambling them).
Step 18: Put skillet on stovetop.
Step 19: Turn on stovetop.
Step 20: Monitor D so he doesn't touch stove or skillet while eggs cook.
Step 21: Take wooden spoon from D momentarily to make sure the eggs get flipped so they are cooked all the way through.
Step 22: Apologize when returning the spoon.
Step 23: Declare eggs done.
Step 24: Get a plate while D gets a fork.
Step 25: Eat the eggs.

4 tips for buying a family car

1. Do your research- check out consumer reports, talk to friends and family about what their cars are like, compare and contrast different cars to see pros and cons.
2. Test drive with your carseats. Assuming your kids still are in carseats, bring them along and put them in the cars you are test driving. We quickly eliminated several models because we realized that the front passengers would have to give up too much legroom in order to accommodate a rear facing car seat. 
3. Imagine what you would actually have in your car. Are you going to be road-tripping in this car? How would suitcases fit in the back? Or that jogging stroller you have at home? 
4. Stick to your budget. Dealers are going to post prices higher than the fair market value (check Kelly Blue Book on all cars!!!) and they will try to get you to sign a contract by lowering your monthly payments and stretching everything out. Low monthly payments won't make up for the fact that you have an expensive car to pay off for years and years. 

Todder Narrations

One of the pros to having a talking toddler is that they inadvertently will narrate or comment on something that cues you in on potential messes or misbehavior. For example, when I was a child I would say "not nice" whenever I was doing something naughty.

Similarly, Man-cub D will say things like "BUG!" if he sees one in the house (which is useful for me because he's closer to the ground and will notice them more). He also will say "booger" if he happens to pick his nose and strike gold, thus alerting me to grab a tissue. He says "uh-oh" if he drops or throws something. All of these things are words he says not necessarily to alert me, but I get the added benefit anyway.

What does your toddler narrate?

10 Ways to Get Your Toddler to do Chores

Sometimes it's hard to get man-cubs to do chores. Here are some recommendations from other mamas on what they've done to encourage their toddlers:

Brushing teeth

1. "You brush my teeth, while I brush yours" method.
2. Let your child do it first, and then they can spit and get a drink. Then it's mom's turn to brush their teeth. This way they can do it themselves AND get a second spit and drink. 

Putting up clothes/ toys

1. Pretend the folded clothing piles are foods to be delivered to the drawers-- pizzas, cakes, pies and other "special deliveries." Pretend the toys are going on trips to other lands. Or pretend you are capturing criminals and putting them in toy box prisons.
2. Pay them a penny for every thing they picked up.
3. Pretend you are elves and use "magic" to pick things up. Then when the older kids or dad get home you tell them elves came and cleaned the house.

Cleaning

1. A reward sticker chart. When they do a chore a certain number of times & they get a reward: toy, treat, special time with mom or dad, etc.
2. Pretend you are a deep sea divers looking for treasure (cleaning out from under their beds).
3. Make a list and let your little mark off things when you finish and pick the next job. 
4. Set a timer and race to see how much you can clean in x amount of minutes.
5. Sing while you work! It helps the time go by quicker and makes everything feel more fun. It worked for Snow White...

What do you do to help your toddlers do chores?

When you make a promise to a toddler...

He expects it to be kept.

So Man-cub D is taking his nap in a dry swimsuit this afternoon, if you were wondering how my morning went.

As mentioned in previous posts, we recently moved and our new apartment complex has a pool! So after a long morning of running errands (literally- I don't have a car so I pushed Man-cub D in a stroller) I told him that we could go to the pool. Little did I know that they close it every Monday for maintenance. So I left with a very disappointed toddler who refused to let me take his swim suit and swim diaper off.

Isn't it interesting how kids will remember and hold you to a promise but they struggle to remember a simple request? Like how I asked Man-cub D to go get a certain toy this morning and he got distracted halfway through. But after going to the pool, he couldn't stop asking to go back to the "bath." When I offered to give him an actual bath at home (which he usually LOVES) he refused. Unfortunately, there was no way for me to fulfill my promise.

What we could have been doing...

Luckily most toddlers (Man-cub D included) are very forgiving. I plan on making it up to him tomorrow when the pool reopens. But until then, this was a good reminder to me to make sure I can fulfill my promises, whether it is to a toddler or an adult.

Toddler Conversations: Outside?

The scene: we are inside.

Me: Hey D, I have to make an un-interrupted lengthy phone call to set up our internet. What would it take to make that happen?
D: Outside? (Translated: Well mother, that would require us to go outside at the hottest part of the day so I can sweat profusely and grind sand into every visible part of my skin.)
Me: Deal.

D later received a bath (much to his delight), and I am back-posting this because we finally have internet. So I guess he got the better end of the deal.